A Race Against Time
by Traw
Summary: It was hard to discover that the tiny boy, they had searched so desperately for, had been so callously tossed aside like a piece of unwanted garbage. Was his death politically motivated or is there a more sinister motive? The Five-O team find themselves in a race against time as the body count begins to climb... And one of their own must fight for his own life...


Danny Williams had to mentally push aside the tumultuous emotions as he stared down at the body lying abandoned in the long grass by the roadside. It was hard to discover that the tiny boy they had searched so desperately for had been so callously tossed aside like a piece of unwanted garbage.

"He looks like he's sleeping, doesn't he?" The soft breathed observation close beside him startled the young Five O detective and he turned to find Duke standing beside him, the HPD Sergeant seemed to be struggling to control the tears that hung onto his eyelashes and threatened to fall as he added. "I have the guys searching the area for any witnesses or clues but so far nothing."

"Thanks, Duke." Danny murmured.

Duke nodded silently and hurried away, the sight of the motionless baby was breaking his heart. Even after six hours of searching a small shimmer of hope had still stayed alight that they would find the young boy alive but that hope had been extinguished when the first reports had floated over the police radio that a small body had been found. He shook his head, unable to imagine how a parent would cope with the news that this young boy's parents were about to receive.

Forcing himself to remain professional and not allow his emotions to rule, Danny knelt down and looked across at the Medical Examiner who was gently carrying out his initial examination of the body, clearing his throat quietly before he asked. "Well Doc?"

"No signs of any trauma or injury." Bergman answered succinctly as he glanced up at the police photographer and asked, "Can I roll him over?" At the photographer's silent nod, the crusty coroner carefully rolled the small body over, his hand expertly gliding over the young boy's head, body and limbs, feeling for any abnormality as Danny held the body in place. Shaking his head, he helped Danny reposition the body onto its back before they rose to their feet and he tilted his head at his assistant to begin the removal of the body.

"Well Doc?" Danny asked again.

"I'm sorry Danny, but there are no visible signs of injury that I can see at the moment to even hazard a guess of cause of death." Doc sighed as he placed his hand on the young detective's shoulder as they turned towards the cars parked close by. "Time of death I would estimate occurred two to three hours ago. I should be able to tell you more after I do the autopsy."

"Thanks." Danny murmured distractedly as he watched a dark Mercury sedan skid to a halt in a shower of dust and stones.

Looking up and seeing the arrival of the lead detective of Hawaii Five O, Doc slapped the younger man on the shoulder as he murmured before he hurried away, "I know you boys will get whoever did this, Danny."

If the younger man had heard what the Coroner had said he made no acknowledgement as he again pushed the emotions that threatened to bubble to the surface away, not wanting his boss and mentor see him 'bleed'.

Stepping out of the still rocking car, Steve McGarrett hurried across to where his Second-In-Command was waiting, casting a quick glance at the small sheet covered shape on the stretcher as it was loaded into the back of that ambulance.

"Is it him?" He asked softly as he studied the too pale face of his youngest detective and closest friend.

Danny nodded; swallowing down the lump that was forming in his throat aware that Steve wanted a full report, now was not the time to bleed. Drawing a deep breath to steady his voice, he opened the small notebook he held in his hand as he answered. "It's him, Steve, but we will need the parents to make a formal identification. There was a road crew picking up litter along the edge of the road and one of the road crew members stumbled across the body about an hour ago. He first thought was a just a discarded child's doll lying in long grass." Danny paused and looked towards the road as he continued more softly. "When he realized it was a child's body he rang HPD." Placing his hand on his colleague's shoulder, McGarrett gave it a light comforting squeeze as Danny continued his report. "The body is fully clothed and there are no visible signs of injury."

McGarrett frowned, "No signs of injuries?"

"There were no contusions or abrasions that we could see. He looked like he was sleeping…" Danny's voice trailed off as he closed his note book and looked towards the road. He shook his head and began to walk towards the two Hawaii Five-O cars with his boss as he continued his report, "Doc says death occurred between two to three hours ago. He will be able to tell us more once he does the autopsy. HPD are searching the area for any clues but so far nothing - looks like he was killed somewhere else and possibly just dumped here. Che and the boys are taking casts of several tire tracks they found near the scene but I'm not sure if that will help us any."

"Why?" Steve asked as he stopped and turned toward the younger man.

Shrugging, Danny cantered his head towards the chain link fence that was located on the other side of the taped off crime scene. "Lots of people park along the edge of the road to watch planes arrive and take off from the airport Steve. It's been so dry, it's hard to tell which tracks are fresh and which aren't."

"Maybe we'll get lucky, Aikane." Steve answered as he lifted his hand and gave Danny's shoulder a light squeeze of encouragement. "We are going to find who did this, Danno!" He promised his detective quietly.

Drawing a deep breath and forcing the emotions he could feel bubbling just beneath the surface back down, Danny nodded determinedly, "I know we will Steve."

"I'm going to inform the parents and then head over to the Governor's office and update him on the case."

"Want me to come?" Danny asked as they reached the cars, hoping that the answer would be no. There was no job he dreaded worse than informing the Next Of Kin of a murder victim, especially when the victim was a child.

"No Danno, it will be easier on the parents if I do this alone." Steve answered before instructing, "But I want you to get with Doc and find out the cause of death. Get Chin to run a full background check on the parents. The boy's father works for the Chinese Embassy. I want to know precisely what he does and if his job would make him some sort of political target. Have Kono get with HPD. I want the neighbors' door knocked again. Maybe one of them will remember seeing something that they didn't think was important when HPD first questioned them."

The sandy haired detective nodded, "What about the friend who was with the parents when Liang disappeared? Do you want him re-interviewed as well?"

"No, leave him for now. There's a few details I want to confirm with the parents first." McGarrett answered over the roof of his car.

"You don't think the parents are involved, do you Steve?" Dan asked, pausing after opening his own car door.

"Everyone's a suspect at the moment Danno until we rule them out!" Steve confirmed before he slid into his car and started the engine.

Sighing, Danny turned back to the scene "Yeah, everyone's a suspect." he murmured as he shook his head slowly and slowly climbed into his car.

OoOoOoOoO

The young woman grabbed her husband's hand; her eyes open wide in anguish and grief as she shook her head in desperate denial as she cried, "No! Oh God No! He can't be! He's only three years old! You have to be mistaken! It has to be someone else's little boy! It can't be Liang! You have to have made a mistake! PLEASE!"

"I'm sorry. The body we found matches your son's description. We can't formally identify him without your help but we are certain it is Liang." Steve said softly as he watched the young man wrap his arm protectively around his wife. He glanced around the comfortably furnished living room to give them a moment of privacy, returning his attention back to the young couple seated opposite him as he heard the young man murmur comforting words to his young wife.

"How…How was he…" The whispered words were barely audible as the young father struggled hard to blink back his tears.

"I wish I could tell you but at the moment we really aren't sure." The detective answered honestly as he pulled his notebook from his coat pocket and opened it as he added. "We will have to wait for the results from the autopsy." Quan Ho nodded silently, his bottom lip trembling as the tears began to roll down his face as Steve continued, "I know this is hard but before I take you to identify Liang's body- I need you to tell me again everything that happened this morning when Liang disappeared."

The young couple nodded before Quan spoke quietly, his voice cracking as he remembered his son's reaction when he had left. Liang had been inconsolable, not wanting to be left behind. "I…I went to the beach to swim as I do every morning before I go to work at the Embassy. Liang… Liang cried when I left. He…he wanted to come with me- us ..." The young Chinese man brushed the tears from his face with his hand and took a deep shuddering breath before he continued," I…I… went to the beach with one of our friends- Juin Honung." McGarrett nodded as he silently jotted down the name, as Quan added brokenheartedly. "But Liang tired and …and…irritable… it was almost time for his morning nap. I keep thinking I should have let him come..."

Steve waited a moment to give the distraught father a few moments to recompose himself before he turned his attention to the small petite woman huddled closely to her husband. "Can you tell me what happened after Quan left?" he asked softly, his own heart aching at having to force this couple to relive the nightmare of their only son's disappearance.

Dapping her eyes, Biya nodded, drawing a shuddering breath as she reached for her husband's hand again for comfort and reassurance as she haltingly began. " Liang was crying so hard when I bought him in. He didn't want me, he…he only wanted Quan. I…I placed him in his bed. I thought he would … would eventually settle down." She paused for a moment, her grief evident in her face as she forced herself to continue. "But he didn't…so I closed his bedroom door and went into the study to pay some bills … I was sure he would cry himself to sleep. He was so tired." She tried to explain.

Steve nodded aware that his mother had sometimes allowed his sister and himself to cry themselves to sleep when they had been overtired as children.

Encouraged that she was not being judged as an uncaring mother, Biya rushed on. "He must have let himself out of the room and out of the front door, he's done that before." Her husband nodded in silent confirmation as his wife rushed on, "I heard him crying outside a few minutes after I entered the study but before I could check on where he was, everything went silent and when I went outside he wasn't there." The tears rolled down the young woman's face as she described the terror of not being able to find her young son, "I…I looked everywhere, outside, inside, under the beds and behind the doors…anywhere where he could hide but he wasn't here. I thought …hoped… that he may have followed his Papa so I hurried down to the beach but Liang wasn't there."

"When I heard my son was missing…I told Biya to ring the police while Juin and I drove around the streets for hours just looking for him but he was gone…" Quan added brokenheartedly before looking the Five-O lead detective directly in the eyes and asking fearfully. "You don't think someone took Liang and killed him just because he was my son?"

It was a question that did not surprise Steve and a question he had not already been asked. The Governor had personally ordered Five-O to investigate the small boy's disappearance after voicing fears that it might be politically motivated. Tensions had been high between the U.S and Chinese Governments after several angry Chinese dissidents had protested openly on the streets of Honolulu over the political unrest in China and the ill treatment of some of their countrymen by their own government. One of the dissidents had taken his protest to extreme and had set himself on fire in protest in front of the Chinese embassy. It was a motive that Steve knew he could not yet ignore, especially given the fact that tensions within the Chinese community were still running high. "We are not sure yet." He answered truthfully as he leaned forward and asked, "Sir, I need to know- have you received any threats that I need to know about?"

Swallowing hard, Quan cast a quick nervous glance at his wife before he turned back to the dark haired lead detective and shook his head. "No - nothing."

Eyeing the couple suspiciously, McGarrett slowly nodded his head as he rose from the chair and regretfully announced. "I'm sorry to have to ask you both to do this but I do need you to come to the morgue and identify your son."

Nodding silently, Quan reluctantly rose to his feet before he turned and gently helped his distraught wife to hers and followed McGarrett out of the house.


End file.
